Deadly alliance (Pokemon fan fiction) [Pokewatty Award 1st runner-up 2013]

Prologue

Prologue

The sky was pitch black, dark ominous clouds covering the surface of the sun. According to his Pokégear, it was only slightly past 2 in the afternoon, and yet it felt like it was way past midnight. Before long, huge droplets of rain started falling on his face.

“The heavens are crying…” He heard one of his crewmates muttering.

Captain Jared stared at the sky and sighed. At this rate, he would not be able to get his package to his destination on time. In his business, reputation was everything and his was one that was built from years upon years of hard work.

“C’mon, lads! Don’t tell me y’all are ‘fraid of this puny rain. We ‘ave survived hurricanes worse than these, storms that came straight from nightmares! We have a package to deliver, and a deadline to meet!” He barked. No way was he letting this minor storm affect his livelihood.

His boat, The Mighty Seaking, bobbled up and down as massive sized waves slapped across her hull. The agonising sound of creaking wood could be heard as each wave, each gradually growing in size, slammed on the boat. The Mighty Seaking was way past its prime, but the captain insisted on one last journey before retiring his ‘loyal companion’. Most of his crew scoffed at him, saying that their lives were more important than his stupid old boat and constantly pressured the captain to change his mind. Needless to say, Captain Jared did not listen and for a fleeting moment, he wondered if he had just made a fatal mistake.

Being the captain of a humongous cargo ship such as this for many years, Captain Jared had experienced his fair share of storms and yet, this one felt different. It was as if Kyogre, the lord of the seas himself, wanted this ship gone - washed to the bottom of the ocean and never to be found. The storm came too quickly and without warning, putting enormous pressure on his crew. If it had not been the many years of training his mates had received, Captain Jared feared his ship might already have been decimated. Suddenly, he was questioning his own ship’s seaworthiness, breaking the number one rule of sailing – To always have faith in one’s ship, if not you shouldn’t have even set sail in it.

“Curse the Whirl Islands!” he shouted. He had heard a plethora of rumours about the islands, about the many ships that enter and never return, sucked in by massive whirlpools. Of course, he did not believe a word of it, brushing it off as old wives’ tales. Never did he imagine himself in the very situation he scoffed at. The irony of his situation just made it worse.

His crew were busy running around, using their best efforts to keep The Mighty Seaking afloat. “Cap’ain!” A man Jared recognised as Samuoel reported to him.

“What! Can’t you see I’m busy over here?” He reprimanded. “This better be good…” He growled.

“Hulls number 2 and 3 are breached! We’re takin’ in water fast!”

Jared cursed out loud. “Empty the boat of whatever that’s not needed. The Mighty Seaking is NOT sinking.”

“What about our cargo? Those things must weigh over a thousand pounds! They’re the cause of our troubles!”

“Rid my ship of what I was paid to transport? Never in a million years! I would rather die! If I catch any one of you tampering with my cargo…” He did not even get to finish his sentence.

“CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN! LOOK, WESTWARD! A WHIRLPOOL!” One of his crew shouted. Many of them were just staring, wide-eyed, at the ocean.

“What do you think you sea dogs are doin’, slacking away in front of your own captain!” Captain Jared screamed at he stomped towards them. “I swear when we get back…” The sight he saw in front of him astounded him and for the first time of his life, he was left speechless.

A gargantuan whirlpool was swirling in front of him. It was at least five times the size of his ship, and would easily swallow her whole. To make matters worse, The Mighty Seaking was headed straight for it.

“What’re you dogs doin’? Hurry and reverse my ship!” Jared screamed at the top of his lungs. The storm was drowning out his voice and most of his crew either ignored him or did not hear him.

“Aye capt’ain, it’s no use…” One of his men reported to him. “Our throttles’re already running full steam in the opposite direction.”

“My Arceus, are you serious?”

“Abandon ship!” One of the crew suddenly shouted. It seemed to break the other crew out of their trance. “Abandon ship!” Many others echoed. There was a mad dash for life boats as each member thought only of how to save their own skin.

“Come on, Cap’ain.” Samuoel beckoned. “We saved a spot for ya.”

“No…” He replied. “Leave me. I’m staying ‘ere with The Mighty Seaking ‘till the very end.”

The other crew seemed overly ecstatic upon hearing his answer and said something along the lines of ‘More food and water for the rest of us’ and quickly proceeded to hit the release lever to release the lifeboat from the doomed ship. Jared heard a watery ‘Splosh’ sound and realised it was probably the last time he would be seeing any of them again.

Jared let out a defeated sigh as he took one last look at the whirlpool.

“The more you look at it, the more I finally learn the terror of the seas.” Samuoel said. “After all these years, nature is still showing humans who is really at the mercy of who…”

Jared turned his head to the right and saw that it was indeed his trusty crewmate Samuoel standing by his side. “Fool! Why have you stayed? This ship is about to join lord Kyogre in his realm.”

“How could I ever leave you Captain? I have sworn my life to you and I WILL remain loyal. ‘Till the very end. Looks like it wouldn’t be too long a wait.” Samuoel sighed.

Jared just nodded his head and looked back to the ocean. “Holy Arceus may you have mercy on us.” Captain Jared muttered a final word of prayer as he felt a wave wash over him and the ship finally went under.

__________

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Thanks for taking the time to check out my novel. I know most people don't really read things like these, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet.

Anyway, I know some of you might be hesitant in commenting on earlier chapters, since there are like 30+ more chapters and you think it'll probably be ignored right? Wrong! How Wattpad works is that I would get to see each and every new comment, likes and followers and even sends me an e-mail notification. So, I definitely read each and every comment and try to reply to all of them (Unless you're trolling or something :p).

So... What are you waiting for? Tell me what you think. Tell me how I can improve! Heck, you can even tell if if there's a tiny typo mistake. I would correct them as soon as possible. And that is all. Vote (It only takes a second), Comment, follow and as always, stay awesome.